Motor vehicles often include an inflatable restraint apparatus having a deployable airbag positioned in or behind an interior vehicle panel, such as an instrument panel, door panel, and the like. Many interior panels include an integrated deployment door formed into the interior panel that is designed to break free upon deployment of the airbag. Controlling the opening of the deployment door is desirable for providing a clean deployment, e.g., minimal or no fragmentation, of the airbag through the interior panel. Often an area of the interior panel surrounding the deployment door is scored or pre-weakened, e.g., via laser scoring, mechanical scoring, or the like, to form a seam that facilitates a clean airbag deployment. Additionally, supporting structures behind the interior panel can be attached to the deployment door to further control the opening of the deployment door.
In one example disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,484,752, issued to Yasuda et al., a fragile splitting contour is formed into a rectangular shape along the backside of an instrument panel to define a door section that opens during airbag deployment. An airbag apparatus containing an airbag is mounted to reinforcing members and an airbag supporting frame. The reinforcing members and the airbag supporting frame are welded to the backside of the instrument panel along and around the door section. During welding, the reinforcing members and the airbag supporting frame are vibrated back and forth along an axis to attach the reinforcing members and the airbag supporting frame to the substrate. Unfortunately, some instrument panel designs have relatively highly contoured surfaces around or near the door section that can limit space needed for vibrating the airbag apparatus supporting structure back and forth along an axis to attach the airbag apparatus to the instrument panel.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide interior panels having integrated airbag doors for motor vehicles and methods for making such interior panels that allow for welding an airbag apparatus supporting structure to a substrate within a limited space and/or along highly contoured substrate surfaces. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background.